Sacred

"Hack'n Slash Revisited"

Sacred is an overall solid, easy to learn and highly addictive RPG adventure that takes set in the realm of Ancaria. Almost as you begin playing this game, the comparisons with Diablo 2 seem unavoidable. The game portrays a very well 3D-rendered character, whose appearence changes accordingly to the items that he has equipped, hacking away endless hordes of enemies in an isometric-viewed world, and you can zoom in and out, either to have a wide tactical view of the scenario or a close up in the action, filled with precious details.

As in Diablo, each player 'class' is pre-determined, and there is little room for diversity. 6 classes overall, 3 males and 3 females, ranging from the brute Gladiator to the cunning Dark Elf and the mysterious Vampiress. The level-up system is also pretty straightforward, with attributes being automatically set, with the exception of 1 single point that you can address to the attribute of your choice, and the growing ammount of skill points. With time and careful planning, you can evolve from a fringe swordsman to a fearsome engine of destruction.

There are tons and tons of items and speciall combat skills that your character can attain, and the enemies are varied enough to, at least in the beginning, cast away any feelings of repetition. Enemies do scale up as you do, but each area of play has its own cap level, so that you will have areas that are easier to beat than others. As you progress in the game, though, you will find that the enemies that you encounter are meerely beefed-up versions of the early weaker ones, and that is a little unrewarding in the end.

One good point about Sacred, is that the story unfolds itself pretty well, and the awesome ammount of quests really makes you wander the world enough to get to know a good percentage of it. And I should mention that this gameworld is pretty big, with more than a dozen cities to visit, lots of different tilesets, hidden caves and secrets, and fearsome dragons to slay. And all without boundaries, since Sacred's gameworld is one whole big playground for your character. I suppose that when you beat the game's main quest, you can wander around the whole map without a single loading screen.

All in all, Sacred value resides in its replayability and addictiveness. It doesn't shine either in graphics, sound or in bringing anything new to the genre, but I suppose die-hard hack'n slash fans will greatly enjoy it, and more hardcore RPG players should give it a try too, beacuse before you know it, you're stuck to the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/18/04